Promoted teams have followed Sunderland’s example and gambled big money on staying up after Ipswich Town, Hull City and Coventry City all ended the transfer window among the biggest net spenders.
Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur might have led the way in gross outlay but in net terms many of the biggest spenders were those who returned to the top flight this summer, figures from multiple sources show.
Ipswich’s £193m net spend was behind only Liverpool, while Hull’s £161m and Coventry’s £133m also placed them in the top five, according to Valuball, the database created by football finance expert Kieran Maguire.
Alternative figures compiled by Transfermarkt have Ipswich third behind Spurs, with Hull and Coventry in the top seven. Either way, the trend is clear: clubs are increasingly willing to gamble on wholesale changes in order to stay up.
Promotion to the Premier League is worth around £200m in revenue uplift in the form of far bigger central distributions and staggered parachute payments in the event of relegation back to the Championship.
Nottingham Forest showed way before Sunderland
Sunderland successfully gambled on a major squad revamp after being promoted in 2025, signing 11 new players and generating a net spend of more than £100m. Not only did they stay up but they qualified for European competition.
Nottingham Forest employed a similar strategy when they returned to the top division after a 23-year wait in 2022, recruiting 15 new players in the summer transfer window. They have remained in the Premier League and qualified for Europe in 2025.
This summer Ipswich signed six players for fees of £20m or higher, including Brazilian striker Emersonn, while Hull and Coventry bought four each as Premier League clubs collectively set a new record for gross spending of around £3.5bn before last night’s deadline.
“There’s clearly a genuine fear of missing out driving prices,” said Professor Rob Wilson of UCFB. “Premier League clubs know that standing still while rivals strengthen can cost far more than overpaying by £10m or £20m, whether that’s missing Europe or getting relegated. That creates an arms race and sellers know English clubs have the money.”